|
Posted June 9, 2009
What's so great about toys?
If you are asking that question, I recommend you read some of my preceding commentary. And pay closer attention next time! Please allow me to illustrate further what is so great about toys and why they are so important in the world. In Norman Brosterman’s book, Inventing Kindergarten you will find compelling examples of the profound influence of this system’s set of educational ‘gifts’ (we would call them toys or activity toys) on the work of many who were directly or indirectly inspired by them. This includes, notably, many of the 20th entury's greatest artists, designers, archtitects and visionaries. If you look at pages 110 and 111 you will see the illustrations and argument that the inspiration of the painting style of Cubism may well have risen from one of the ’gifts’ or toys that were the foundation of the original European Kindergarten system. On page 117-119 and beyond you see the work of Mondrian and other artists of the era that would appear to be influenced by another of the Kindergarten system toys/activities. A cultural archeologist like Brosterman, seeking the origins and inspirations of seminal works in different fields of endeavor, concludes that in one field after another, these Kindergarten toys have exerted a profound influence on the children that went through the program, as well as many who did not but were inevitably exposed to this system and its set of ‘gifts’ or toys. Frank Lloyd Wright, a student of the system, credits one of the ‘gifts’ directly, a set of wooden blocks. For those who are unsure about the importance of toys in modern society, this section of Brosterman’s book is a must read. Toys exert a profound influence on innovations and developments in all fields of endeavor. Toys matter. Toys are brain food. Toys feed the brain and thereby the world.
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed